Vedat’s History Vedat is a young boy from a Roma Gypsy community. His family was forced to flee their home in Kosovo after his father was taken away by the police and presumably killed as an act of “ethnic cleansing”. They fled to a refugee camp in Montenegro where living conditions were deplorable and food was scarce. The family, including Vedat, his mother, his uncle and three brothers, were in a constant battle for survival, made more complex by Vedat’s particular health needs.
When Vedat was still a baby he contracted tuberculosis. Though he survived the disease’s effect on his lungs, it also attacked his spine where it began to eat away at his vertebrae. As he grew older, his spine became more and more malformed, creating a large hump on his back and causing his internal, vital organs to be compressed.
For many children in Vedat’s situation, this would have led to death; however, God was working in amazing ways to save this little boy. Through a series of contact beginning with Bob & Nancy Hitching, missionaries to the Roma people, a group was eventually able to bring Vedat to America for life-saving surgery. Along with him came Vedrana, a wonderful young Christian woman who put her life on hold to be Vedat’s interpreter and guardian for the first year of his stay in America. Current Situation
Vedat currently lives with Bill & Grace Hatcher in Bristow, VA. He is in the 8th grade at Gainesville Middle School. Because of the spinal cord injury that occurred during surgery, he continues to rely upon an arm crutch when walking any distance. He also requires scheduled catherizations for bladder relief. |
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